After Seven Years
by Recognition2
Summary: Erza finally gets to have a picnic with Jellal.


_**Originally written: 7/27/14**_

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Seven years older.

Now technically, Jellal wasn't seven years older; they had been born the same year, and that fact would remain unchanged for eternity. She just looked seven years younger. The differences weren't evident now, but they would be eventually. Like when he rightfully looked forty and she looked thirty-three.

Of course, it wouldn't exactly pose any problems. Men would kill to be in his position. He could give the simple excuse that she was an avid user of anti-aging products. Or that she had been locked away safely on the supposedly demolished Tenroujima Island. Either one worked.

Besides, everyone knew Erza Scarlet. Who didn't know the mighty Titania, the Fairy Queen? The entire ordeal was known all throughout the world, and even the most insensitive person wouldn't have had the guts to comment on it. If not because of Erza, then definitely because of him. He would make sure of it.

There was really no issue to be had. She had the right to live. She'd just been given seven extra years to do it.

But he still couldn't help but feel a bit strange as he sat in her presence.

Nothing had changed been them, and if anything had, then it was definitely for the better. He was still him and she was still her. After all these years, it might as well have simply been a reunion between old...

Old...?

"Is something wrong?"

Her voice was warm and very welcome. Its familiarity sent him reeling with nostalgia, and suddenly it didn't feel like seven years had passed anymore. He couldn't remember why it did, but he had learned to forget the sadness he felt for forgetting her. In all honesty, he preferred to keep it that way. From what he'd heard, he hadn't exactly treated her with delicacy back then.

She was smiling at him, and he realized he was gaping and probably looked like an idiot. Shutting his mouth hastily, he managed a nod in response.

"What were you thinking about?" Erza asked, leaning just a tiny bit closer. The few centimeters she crossed made his face explode with color.

"Nothing important," Jellal replied vaguely. "I do have a question, though."

"Please."

He gestured to her plate of strawberry shortcake. "Just how good is that cake?"

Her eyes sparkled like stars, and he couldn't help but laugh at her passion for food. She proceeded to rant about its absolute divinity until a cool wind combed through her hair. The scent of strawberries wafted through the air, and he found it comically fitting that it did.

Her giggle caught him off guard. Jellal wasn't repulsed by any means, but he had never heard such an adorable sound leave a person's lips. He hadn't even known someone could make a noise like that. Strangely, he wasn't surprised that Erza could.

"What?" he asked, a smile lifting his lips.

"You..." She reached forward and plucked something out of his hair. "... have a leaf in your hair."

When she showed him the little thing, he laughed, though his face flushed slightly in embarassment. She let it go, and it fluttered away with the breeze.

"Now, I have a question," she said.

"About...?"

Laying her plate down on the checkered blanket they sat on, she turned her full attention to him.

"Just how much did you miss me during the seven years I was gone?"

_With all that I am, with all that I have, I missed you. I dreamt of you every night and I thought of you every day. When I was released I visited Fairy Tail every day, and I looked for you everywhere without tire. When I finally heard that you had died, that everyone had perished, I broke down. I lost all will to live until I remembered what you had said - to live, not to die, to grasp the future in front of me. And every day, I lived. I basked in the warmth of the sun that you loved so dearly, and I lived for you._

Jellal had meant to say all these things, but when the time came, he only managed to utter, "A lot. I missed you a lot."

Erza smiled, and his heart filled with such immense warmth that he wondered how he possibly could have lived without it. She laid her head on his shoulder, and the scent of strawberries engulfed him.

Somehow, she understood.

"That fiancé of yours must be jealous."

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**I don't always write fluff, but when I do, I make it FLUFFY. How they got together and had a picnic is up to you :) Honestly if both of them made the effort, they could always meet up for one.**


End file.
